MODELLING RESSOURCES
Demonstration and starter models
ETSAP and its partners provide a wide range of tools to help users build, expand, and apply TIMES models efficiently — from training demo models, to model starters, and other tools. The TIMES code is required to run open-source models.
VerveStacks
VerveStacks is an open-use energy modelling platform that provides ready-to-use, decision-grade power-sector models which can be explored immediately. Models and assumptions are open to use, inspect, and question, while the underlying pipelines remain managed to ensure quality and consistency. The platform covers more than 100 countries, with scenarios that can be set up and run within minutes. It operates at native hourly resolution (8,760 hours) using intelligent aggregation, and includes spatial detail at a 50×50 km scale for renewable resource modelling. VerveStacks integrates multiple global energy datasets (including IRENA, EMBER, GEM, REZoning, Atlite, and AR6) into a single framework, and provides free access to the complete modelling value chain.
VerveStacks is the beginning of an Energy System Operating System (ESOM OS) – a closed-source platform that transforms energy modeling from an artisanal craft into an automated, transparent, globally accessible utility.
Available on GitHub and documented here.
VEDA-TIMES Demo Models
The VEDA-TIMES Demo Models provide a step-by-step introduction to building a TIMES model in the VEDA model management software. They begin with an orientation to the basic features of VEDA, including the software layout, data files and tables, and model management functions. The package describes in detail twelve (12) demonstration models that progressively introduce VEDA-TIMES principles and modelling techniques.
Together, these advanced steps equip users to move beyond the basics and apply TIMES to more complex and policy-relevant energy system questions. New users are encouraged to complete the basic and intermediate demos before moving to the advanced version.
The VEDA-TIMES Basic and Intermediate Demo Models start from an EU27 energy balance and incrementally build a model following standard practices for describing the Reference Energy System (RES) and careful naming conventions. The process begins with a simple supply curve feeding a single demand and develops step by step, gradually adding new commodities, technologies, and regions while introducing more advanced TIMES features.
The VEDA-TIMES Advanced Demo Models extends the basic and intermediate series with a structured set of six additional steps that introduce more sophisticated TIMES features. These include:
- a mix of advanced features (regional CO₂ limits, subsidies on technologies, build-rate constraints, vintaging, fixing solutions from previous runs and running in myopic mode),
- calibrating the Macro Stand Alone (MSA) extension,
- testing annual or cumulative budget constraints on costs and subsidies,
- implementing the endogenous technology learning (ETL) feature,
- representing storage technologies such as pumped hydro and electric batteries, and vi),
- setting up stochastic model runs to explore uncertainty.
Please fill up the form:
You will get a link to download the Demo models in the email
The ETSAP TIMES-Starter Example
The ETSAP TIMES-Starter Platform and its Guidelines. introduces a new approach to building a TIMES energy system optimisation model. The platform significantly reduces the time needed to assemble an initial model and improves the quality of first-time TIMES applications. It provides an integrated full-sector energy system model, assembled in a set of Excel workbook templates that are calibrated to a base-year energy balance and linked to a publicly available technology database.
It includes a full set of future technology options for all energy sectors, mechanisms for constructing a reference scenario, and several sample sensitivity cases suited to exploring least-cost decarbonisation pathways. The platform also integrates a comprehensive management system that supports Reference Energy System (RES) diagramming, technology views, scenario management, model runs, and dynamic pivot tables for analysing results. An interactive graphical comparison tool facilitates interpretation of model outputs. The TIMES-Starter example has already been successfully applied in Turkey, China, Costa Rica, Vietnam, and Armenia, where it served as a first step for building local capacity and training planning teams.
Note: Although the TIMES-Starter example is a standardized national TIMES model, it is still a complex model. Teams that are new to TIMES and VEDA should begin with the basic and intermediate demo models, which introduce the essential features of TIMES step by step.
Please fill up the form:
You will get a link to download the TIMES-Starter model in the email
xl2times: an open-source tool to convert Excel to GAMS files
xl2times is an open-source tool to convert TIMES models specified in Excel to a format ready for processing by GAMS. Originally started as times-excel-reader to make it easier for anyone to reproduce research results generated by TIMES models, the tool is now developed with support from ETSAP. The 2024 release (version 0.2.0) includes multiple fixes and optimisations to improve compatibility with existing models. Users are invited to test the tool and report any issues through the public issue tracker.
Generative COMET model for cities
The COMET (City-based Optimization Model for Energy Technologies) was developed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to capture entire energy systems at the city level. COMET accounts for investment and operating costs as well as greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions across buildings, transport, and waste sectors. It enables users to explore and optimise technology pathways for medium- and large-sized cities, balancing long-term energy needs with emissions reduction targets. This structure helps city officials and other decision-makers clarify economic and environmental trade-offs, inform policy choices, and design cost-effective decarbonization strategies through 2050.
A key innovation is its auto-calibration approach, which allows the model to adapt to different levels of data availability:
- Minimal data – the model can be calibrated directly to aggregate GHG inventories, providing a quick entry point for cities with limited datasets.
- Intermediate data – calibration incorporates sectoral energy balances (e.g., for buildings, transport, waste), offering more detail where such information exists.
- Comprehensive data – where detailed activity and technology data are available, the model fully calibrates technology pathways, enabling high-resolution scenario analysis.
In its first phase, COMET was tailored to New York City, where it supported the publication of the city’s first Climate Budget in April 2024. In its second phase, the team developed the Generative COMET model, an open-source version designed for use by any city. This version streamlines calibration, accommodates different levels of data detail, and features a modular structure that makes it adaptable to diverse urban contexts.
The accompanying Documentation and User Guide provides comprehensive guidance for users of the Generative COMET model, including descriptions of the model structure and architecture, calibration processes, data sources, and applications. It also includes step-by-step instructions for installation, calibration, solving, and reporting results, and concludes with a discussion of limitations and perspectives for future development.
